Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) invited Gabino Sanchez, an illegal immigrant with a criminal record. Sanchez, whose record is littered with misdemeanor charges liked driving without a license, is fighting deportation.

Yet this man – who is putting American drivers at risk – was given an opportunity not afforded to law-abiding taxpayers. He was allowed to sit in the House chamber mere yards away from President Obama.

“This is a big step for Dreamers and indicative of how far this movement has come,” illegal immigrant Julieta Garibay told the Dallas Morning News. Ms. Garibay was a guest of Rep. Marc Veasey (D-TX).

The Daily Caller reported that five Democrats, including First Lady Michelle Obama, welcomed illegals into the People’s House. Mrs. Obama’s guest was 20-year-old Alan Aleman, a beneficiary of her husband’s Dream Act.

So how were illegal immigrants allowed to enter one of the most secure buildings in the nation’s capitol?

It’s a question that is even more perplexing since every person in the room was required to have a Social Security number.

A memorandum from the Sergeant at Arms, obtained by The Daily Caller, states: “For guests who do not posses a valid Congressional ID, please provide their full name, Social Security number, and date and place of birth.”

The average legal American can’t board a jetliner without getting a prostate exam from the TSA – but people who are not even legal citizens can waltz right through the front doors of the U.S. Capitol?

It was a stunning visual – prominent Democratic lawmakers harboring illegal immigrants and flaunting their disregard for the law on national television.

Every Republican in Congress should have refused to enter the chamber until the undocumented had been rounded up and arrested. Instead, they allowed the U.S. Constitution to be sullied and federal law to be ignored.

According to federal law, harboring an illegal alien is “illegal under both federal law and some state laws.” The crime is punishable by up to five years in prison.

It’s too bad Ted Nugent didn’t try to make a citizen’s arrest.

But even more offensive is the blatant lack of respect shown for law-abiding, tax-paying Americans who were denied the honor of attending the State of the Union.

Why not invite the survivors of the Benghazi attack? Why not invite the widow of American hero Chris Kyle? Or what about immigrants who came to the Land of the Free legally?

In the final moments of President Obama’s address he suggested a new interpretation of the word “citizen.”

“It’s a word that doesn’t just describe our nationality or legal status,” he said.

But in truth, it does. Those of us born in these United States – are in fact citizens. Those who come to our shores legally – are in fact citizens. Those who sneak across our borders in the dark of night — are not.

The Democrats who flaunted the law are not explaining their decisions — but it seems pretty clear to me.

Their allegiance is to the illegal immigrant — not the American taxpayers.